Prophets' Stories: A Source Of Comfort And Hope

Stories of the Prophets: A Source of Comfort and Solace

Allah mentions stories of the prophets in the Qur'an, and the reason for mentioning these stories is — as Allah Ta'ala Himself says — one is that for the Prophet ﷺ and for the believers, it is a source of comfort and a source of solace.

And it's natural as a human being that when you hear the lives of other human beings, and you hear about the challenges that a person goes through, and the way they are able to succeed, and are able to overcome those challenges, it gives a person hope, and it gives a person comfort that I too, in whatever challenges I'm going through, whatever difficulties I'm going through, insha'Allah, Allah will help me and aid me as well. In fact, we in our lives have also gone through different, different challenges, and Allah has allowed us to overcome many of those challenges.

And our scholars, they mention that anytime you see yourself in any difficulty, in any calamity, any مُصِيبَة, remind yourself of the previous difficulty that you were in, and how Allah allowed you to overcome that difficulty. Remind yourself. If you ever find yourself in any difficulty, currently, or ever in the future, then remind yourself of any difficulty in the past.

We as human beings, we have this tendency that we forget. So you have to sit down, you have to reflect, you have to remind yourself. How many of us remember just a few years ago, the COVID era, how difficult that was? Many of us, it's kind of gone over our minds, it doesn't really — no one really thinks about it anymore.

Masajids were closed, you had terms like "social distancing," never heard before, and having to quarantine. But that was a مُصِيبَة, that was a difficulty. A person who actually became sick, if a person was ill, or who contracted COVID, at that time, subhanAllah, there was so much worry and concern. But that was a difficulty that came, that went, and you see how Allah aided, how Allah allowed us to overcome that.

In any case, the point I'm trying to mention here is that there are many times that we go through difficulties, and whether it's within our life, or we look at other people's lives as a way to learn from, it allows us to go through those difficulties, and it allows us to overcome whatever challenges that we're going through. And this life is full of challenges.

Till the time the person passes away, till that day, there's going to be difficulties, challenges. Just the other day we were reading in the hadith, in the books of hadith, about the last hours of the Prophet ﷺ. It was mentioned that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) mentioned that the Prophet ﷺ had a bowl of water next to him, and he would dip his hand inside the bowl of water, and he would wipe his face because of the difficulty he was facing, and he said:

"Indeed, death has its pains." So till the very end, till the very end, a person in this life can face difficulty, challenge — physical, bodily, whatever it may be. And we're talking about Sayyid al-Awwalin wa al-Akhirin here, Imam al-Mursalin. At the end of his life, the Prophet ﷺ is saying this — that indeed, in death there are pains. Indeed, death has its pains, it has its difficulty.

The Story of Prophet Yunus (alayhis salam)

These stories of the Anbiya (alayhimus salatu wassalam) that Allah Ta'ala mentions in the Qur'an — and you see that there are many Anbiya. Some narrations mention that there are over 125,000 Anbiya (alayhimus salatu wassalam) that Allah Ta'ala sent. But in the Qur'an, Allah Ta'ala mentions a few of them, not very many.

And in the Qur'an, those who are mentioned — some of them have different unique aspects of their life that are mentioned. For example, when we talk about Dawud (alayhis salam) and Sulaiman (alayhis salam), the ayat speak about how Allah Ta'ala not only made them prophets, but Allah Ta'ala also made them rulers, kings — they had dominion. When Allah Ta'ala mentions about Ayyub (alayhis salam), then Ayyub (alayhis salam) was that Nabi who went through a lot of physical difficulty and illness. So likewise, different Anbiya (alayhimus salatu wassalam) went through different challenges, and each one of us — depending on what challenge we're facing in life, what difficulty we're facing in life — we can relate to that aspect of the story of that Nabi, and we can read it, and we can use that to overcome and recognize the mercy of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Yunus (alayhis salam) was a prophet of Allah Ta'ala, sent to his people, and he invited them towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but they kept on rejecting, they kept on rejecting. And he, from his — you could say — ijtihad, and from his understanding that when a prophet continuously tells the people about Allah, and they continuously reject, then as per the sunnah of Allah Ta'ala, the azab of Allah Ta'ala can come. And he felt that the azab of Allah Ta'ala was near, and at any time the azab of Allah Ta'ala could come, and so Yunus (alayhis salam) left.

As a Nabi, it would have been better for him that he wait for the divine revelation of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but looking at the situation, he felt that maybe the time and the hour was nearing that the azab of Allah Ta'ala comes, and so he left. The people at the time, when they saw that Yunus (alayhis salam) had left, and they started to see some type of — you can say — atharat, they started seeing certain signs that maybe the azab of Allah Ta'ala was actually coming; they became very, very worried. They became very worried, and they all collectively got together, and they made tawbah to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

In the meantime, meanwhile, Yunus (alayhis salam) boards a ship, and certain things happen on the ship — they go through certain difficulties — and as per their belief, they had this idea, this understanding, that if any individual or collectively they're facing any difficulty, it's possible that there's somebody here that shouldn't be here. So when the decision had to be made that somebody has to be thrown overboard — who should we throw overboard — they drew lots.

As Allah Ta'ala mentions in the Qur'an — they drew lots. Every time they drew the lots, the name of Yunus (alayhis salam) kept on coming up. They didn't want to throw Yunus (alayhis salam) off the ship. Why? Because seeing him, interacting with him, they realized and recognized that he is somebody of great character — that's the last person you want to throw overboard. But when they kept on drawing the lots, every time they would draw the lots, his name would come up. So eventually, that's what happened.

And as soon as he went off the ship:

A large fish — a whale, something like that — it came and it swallowed Yunus (alayhis salam). At that time Yunus (alayhis salam) recognized the difficulty he was in, and the kalimat that he kept on reciting at that time was:

"There is no god but You. There is no deity. There is no power. There is no god. There is no one that has any power except for You. You are free from all defect. You are pure from all defect. I am the one that is at fault. I am the one that is from the transgressors."

And Allah Ta'ala then says that he remained in the belly of that fish for however much time Allah Ta'ala knows, but had it not been for him doing this Tasbeeh:

Had it not been for the fact that he continuously did Tasbeeh, had he not done this, he would have remained in the belly of the fish till the Day of Judgment. But by virtue of this Tasbeeh — such a powerful Tasbeeh — Allah Ta'ala removed him from that difficulty. Allah Ta'ala saved him. And Allah Ta'ala says:

"We saved him from this difficulty, from this anguish, from this depression. And likewise, We save the believers."

Sin, Tawbah, and the Mercy of Allah

Sometimes we don't realize, but it's our actions — certain things that we do, the sins that we commit — due to which difficulties come upon us.

"Corruption appears in land and sea due to what the people have done" — so that we may give them a taste of what they've done, so that they realize and return back to Allah. It is possible at times that some difficulty that we're facing could be the result of some sin that we did. But the sin is not where it ends. It ends when the person refuses to acknowledge the sin as a sin, and refuses to do tawbah to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

Allah Ta'ala made this avenue for the human being, recognizing that the human being has his faults and the human being will make mistakes. And so, what does Allah Ta'ala give the human being, the insan, the mu'min? It is the avenue of tawbah. When a person commits any sin, then he turns to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and he says: "Ya Allah, You forgive me. There is nobody, there is nobody that can forgive me, Ya Allah, except for You."

"Who is there that will forgive the sins except for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?"

The Hadith of the Bitaqah (The Card)

There is a very famous hadith in the books of hadith that is often termed as the hadith al-bitaqah — it is when a man will come in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and he will have 99 scrolls of sins in front of him. And he will think: "That's it. These are 99 scrolls of sins that I have committed here, in front of me."

That kitab that will be tied to the neck of every individual — that will be there, laid out:

Regarding which Allah Himself will say:

"Read yourself. You don't believe it? You don't believe your own account? Read it yourself. Look at your own actions. You did this, such and such action, on such and such day — it's here, written." And he will be surprised:

What type of kitab is this? It has recorded everything. Today we see all the CCTVs and the cameras — every action of mine. Here we're talking about intimate details, where no camera can be there, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows there are malaika there.

"There is not a single word he speaks except that there are angels writing it down." Where you would think that there's nobody there, there is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala there, and the angels writing down those deeds. So when those books are presented in front of him, he will be shocked. "What type of book is this? Where did this book come from? It doesn't leave behind any major sin, any minor sin, except that every single thing that I've done is written here."

So this individual, when he will see these 99 scrolls, he will think: "That's it." Allah Ta'ala will say to the malaika: bring any of his good deeds that he has. So one bitaqah, one card — some small piece of paper, card-like — will come. And he will think to himself: "What will this one card do? What will this one piece of paper do?" He is told: "No, there is no zulm today. There will be no injustice." So where those 99 sijil, those 99 scrolls are put, on the other side of the scale, that one card will be put — and that one card will outweigh all of those 99 scrolls that were there. And on that card will be written his testimony, his witnessing, his believing in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2639; declared hasan by al-Tirmidhi)

His belief in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

The Importance of Daily Istighfar and Dhikr

So as believers — because in the ayah Allah Ta'ala says وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُنجِي الْمُؤْمِنِينَ, "Likewise, We save the believers" — one of the things that we should engage in, often, daily, is istighfar and tawbah. The Prophet ﷺ, it comes in the hadith, that every day — كُلَّ يَوْمٍ — the Prophet ﷺ would a hundred times do istighfar:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2702)

"I seek forgiveness from Allah a hundred times every single day."

What we don't realize is, because of the things that we are exposed to daily — our heart is, where it's a very strong thing, I'm talking about the spiritual heart, where it's a very strong thing that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave us — it is also very sensitive, it is easily receptive, it is sensitive to various factors. Things that we see with our eyes, things that we listen to with our ears, things that we say with our tongue, easily affect that heart. And if a person isn't constantly watching over it, and removing that filth that keeps on accumulating, and the grime that keeps on accumulating, it will then become very, very hardened — to a point where there's no hope for it.

So through the process of istighfar — like for example, if you're using a pan or a pot, if you don't keep on washing it after every use, what happens? Sometimes the grime that gets on it is so thick, and it's almost as if it's merged with the metal itself. So likewise, daily istighfar — what it does, daily dhikrullah — what it does is, it removes that grime, that filth, that we are constantly exposed to, and we're constantly exposing ourselves to.

In one hadith reported by Imam al-Bayhaqi, the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Every single thing has its own polish — every single thing has its own polish by which you clean it. Depending on what that thing is: if it's metal, that's its own thing; if we're talking about carpets, then it's something different. For everything there's something that can polish it, that can clean it. And the polish of the hearts is the remembrance of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala."

Surah al-Nasr: The Last Complete Surah Revealed

The last surah to be revealed — the last surah in its totality, in its entirety — revealed to the Prophet ﷺ, is Surah al-Nasr.

The last ayah in this surah, Allah Ta'ala says to the Prophet ﷺ as a command: "Glorify your Lord with His praise and seek His forgiveness. Indeed, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is ever returning to His servants."

So we should have a regimen, we should have a daily schedule where we are doing istighfar:

Whatever it is — so it removes the grime that's been accumulating on our hearts and that continuously accumulates. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala forgive us for our sins. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala purify our hearts such that on the Day of Judgment, when we are presented in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, we have clean and pure hearts.

Announcements

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We have our weekly programs continuing: Monday night with Mufti Azimuddin and Dr. Atif Khan — this Monday on the topic of Islamic finance from Ethica Institute. We also have a Deep Dive Tafsir on Tuesdays with Mufti Mirhajuddin. Then Thursday night, an Urdu program covering Imam Tirmidhi's (rahimahullah) Al-Shama'il al-Muhammadiyyah. And then join us for our Saturday weekly team Fajr, where we are covering the lives of the Companions — رِضْوَانُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى عَلَيْهِمْ أَجْمَعِيْن.

Our sisters' part-time program is offered online as well, with a variety of different classes in both Urdu and English. You can register at masjidds.org/seminary/sisters-part-time.

Du'a Requests

Du'a for shifa for brother Sardar Durrani, father of brother Anaf Durrani, who has been in the hospital since Ramadan. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant him complete shifa and a speedy, quick recovery.

Sister Humaira Sultana had a kidney surgery. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant her complete shifa.

Du'a for maghfirah for brother Siafrial ibn Barkaya who passed away. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala grant him Jannatul Firdaus.

And likewise, we make du'a for the entire Muslim community. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — those who are ill, grant them shifa kamilah. Those who have passed away, forgive their sins, elevate their status, and grant them Jannatul Firdaus. Jazakumullah khayran.